then the king that sends no messenger,
And leaves an empty house before a guest,
So clear in all he does that no dim word
Can light us to a doubt?
FERGUS.
However dim,
Speak it, for I have known King Conchubar
Better than my own heart, and I can quench
Whatever words have made you doubt him.
NAISI.
No,
I cannot weigh the gossip of the roads
With a king’s word, and were the end but death,
I may not doubt him.
DEIDRE.
Naisi, I must speak.
FERGUS.
Let us begone, this house is no fit place,
Being full of doubt—Deirdre is right.
[To DEIRDRE, who has gone towards the door she had entered by.
No, no,
Not by that door that opens on the path
That runs to the seashore, but this that leads
To Conchubar’s house. We’ll wait no messenger,
But go to his well-lighted house, and there
Where the rich world runs up into a wick
And that burns steadily, because no wind
Can blow upon it, bring all doubts to an end.
The table has been spread by this, the court
Has ridden from all sides to welcome you
To safety and to peace.
DEIRDRE.
Safety and peace!
I had them when a child, but never since.
FERGUS.
Men blame you that you have stirred a quarrel up
That has brought death to many. I have poured
Water upon the fire, but if you fly
A second time the house is in a blaze
And all the screaming household can but blame
The savage heart of beauty for it all;
And Naisi that but helped to tar the wisp
Be but a hunted outlaw all his days.
DEIDRE.
I will be blamed no more! there’s but one way.
I’ll spoil this beauty that brought misery
And houseless wandering on the man I loved,
And so buy peace between him and the king.
These wanderers will show me how to do it,
To clip my hair to baldness, blacken my skin
With walnut juice, and tear my face with briars.
Oh! that wild creatures of the woods had torn
This body with their claws.
NAISI.
What is your meaning?
What are you saying? That he loves you still?
DEIRDRE.
Whatever were to happen to this face,
I’d be myself; and there’s not any way
But this way to bring trouble to an end.
NAISI.
Answer me—does King Conchubar still love—
Does he still covet you?
DEIDRE.
Tell out the plot,
The plan, the network, all the treachery,
And of the bridal chamber and the bed,
The magical stones, the wizard’s handiwork.
NAISI.
Take care of Deirdre, if I die in this,
For she must never fall into his hands,
Whatever the cost.
DEIDRE.
Where would you go to, Naisi?
NAISI.
I go to drag the truth from Conchubar,
Before his people, in the face of his army,
And if it be as black as you have made it,
To kill him there.
DEIRDRE.
You never would return;
I’d never look upon your face again.
Oh, keep him, Fergus; do not let him go,
But hold him from it. You are both wise and kind.
NAISI.
When you were all but Conchubar’s wife, I took you;
He tried to kill me, and he would have done it
If I had been so near as I am now.
And now that you are mine, he has planned to take you.
Should I be less than Conchubar, being a man?
[Dark-faced MESSENGER comes into the house, unnoticed.
MESSENGER.
Supper is on the table; Conchubar
Is waiting for his guests.
FERGUS.
